Chocolate and like refiner roll machine



May 11, 1937. A. A. TUNLEY Er AL CHOCOLATE AND LIKE REFINER ROLL MACHINE Filed April 5, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet l E E L03 H. #5 a 200 7 rum, T U4 4 2 Mm M 4% N Aw M a A; a

May 11, 1937. A. A. TUNLEY ET AL 2,080,364

CHOCOLATE AND LIKE REFINER ROLL MACHINE Filed April 5, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 2 LLfiN ASHMEAD TUNLEY y l A. A. TUNLE-Y ET AL 2,080,364

0806mm AND LIKE REFINER ROLL MACHINE Filed April 5, 1934 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 &

Patented May 11, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHOCOLATE AND LIKE REFINER ROLL MACHINE Application April 3, 1934, Serial No. 718,798

In Great Britain April 7, 1933 2 Claims.

This invention relates to refiner roll machines for chocolate and like material which it is required to grind to a very fine paste.

The object of the present invention is to provide improved means whereby the working clearance or nip between cooperating pairs of rolls may be adjusted without disturbing or requiring a corresponding readjustment of another or others of the rolls of the series.

According to a feature of the invention, in a five-roll refiner or like machine having a series of cooperating rolls, a fixed abutment is provided which may be the trunnion housings of one roll and novel means are provided between the abutment (or abutment roll) and the next adjacent roll, and between each succeeding pair of rolls adaptedto vary the distances between the axes of adjacent rolls, the arrangement being such that when an adjustment is made, all the'rolls on the side of the adjusted roll remote from the abutment (or abutment roll) are bodily displaced while maintaining their respective clearance or nip.

The invention consists in making the bearing 5 housings or like mountings of the rolls dependent one upon the other so that the displacement of the upper of an intermediate pair of the vertical series of rolls, displaces those above it as a unit correspondingly, and providing means operating with wedge-like action between the bearing housings of each pair of rolls, designed and adapted to vary, with minimum friction and a high degree of accuracy, the distance between the axes of the rolls to adjust the working clearance or nip between such.

According to one form, the bearing housings of a series of rolls are joined together by linking them upon intermediate adjustable members such as eccentrics or cams, while in another form the housings of each roll bear upon the housings beneath by gravity and with or without supplementary resilient pressure, through the intermediary of an anti-frictional adjustable wedge device, eccentric or other variable member.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the application of the invention to a five-roll chocolate refiner,

Figure 1 is a cross section of the refiner, the section being taken through the roll adjusting mechanism.

Figure 2 is a corresponding front view partly in section.

Figure 3 is a detail of the toggle adjusting mechanism.

Figure 4 is a partial view of a modification.

In carrying the invention into effect according to one convenient mode, by way of example, as applied to, say, a five-roll refiner in which a series Hi, ll, l2, 13 of the rolls are arranged with their axes substantially in a vertical plane, the lowermost roll [0 of the series is mounted in bearing housings 14, the vertical positions of which are maintained fixed, the bearing housings l5, IS, ll of the rolls H, l2, 13 above it being slidably mounted in vertical guideways I8. Speaking of one side of the machine only, for convenience, the uppermost side of the lowermost (fixed) housing !4 and the lowermost side of the uppermost housing I hand the upper and lower sides of the housings l5 and iii of intermediate rolls are provided with faces or plates l9 located parallel with the axes of the refiner rolls. The bearing plates 19 are mounted on the housings by pins |9a engaging apertures in the housings. Mounted between the opposing faces [9 are Wedge means adjustably mounted so that slight rotational movements thereof tend to adjust the axes of the adjacent pair of rolls.

According to the preferred form, the wedge means comprises a toggle device consisting of a pair of substantialy upright thrust-transmitting toggle plates 20 and an adjustable thrust-producing block 2| which is adjustable in a direction at right angles to the plane of the axes of the refiner rolls. The plates I9 on the housings and the blocks 2| are provided with grooves to accommodate the wedges of the toggle plates 28.

Each toggle block 2| may be carried by a screw-threaded spindle 22 passing through it and by which it is actuated for adjusting the toggle. According to one mode, each spindle 22 passes through a mounting 23 supported in the framework 24 by trunnions 25 in order to accommodate vertical displacements of the ends of the spindles associated with the blocks. The ends of the spindles are threaded to receive worm wheels 26 which mesh with Worms 2? carried by the mounting 23. Rotation of the worms is effected by a hand wheel 28. i

The toggle adjustment may be separately effected in connection with the bearing housings on each end of the rolls, or the toggles for each pair of rolls may be adjusted together by operating their spindles 22 from a common hand wheel through bevel or other gear.

According to a convenient arrangement (see Figure 3) an actuating spindle 29 extends between the worms 21, 21a associated with a pair of adjacent rolls. The spindle is reduced at one end to accommodate a slidable sleeve 30 which is provided with a clutch 3| coupling it to the worm 21a and a second clutch 32 coupling it to the operating hand wheel 28. The latter is splined to the spindle and a nut 33 is provided so that the hand wheel may be drawn back to declutch it from the spindle.

At the other end the spindle is provided with a short sleeve 34 forming a clutch element which is coupled to the worm wheel 2?. The sleeve 34 is fixed to the spindle by a set screw 35.

By this arrangement when the parts are in th position shown in Figure 3 rotation of the shaft 29 will cause an adjustment of both ends of the rolls, i. e. a displacement of the roll. On slacking back the nut 33 and declutching the hand wheel 28 from the sleeve 33, only the worm 21 will be actuated with consequent adjustment of the corresponding ends of the rolls relatively to the other ends.

The uppermost bearing housing I! of the series is-provided with a resilient spring device comprising a spring 36 located horizontally and acting through a rod 31 upon a bell crank lever 38, one arm of which engages a lever 39 pivoted to the framing 2 5 and bearing upon the housing I1 whereby a resilient pressure is brought to bear upon the housing and consequently presses downwardly all thebearing housings and maintains a close contact between them and their toggle means. As an alternative to employing resilient spring pressure, counterweighted levers may be employed to produce a similar effect by gravity or a combined gravitational and resilient pressure may be employed.

Fixed and accurate adjustment is the keynote of the problem, and this problem is solved by having adequate pressure tending to force the rolls together and providing unyielding and incompressible wedge or toggle means which acts variably to limit the inward movement of the rolls, or variably to thrust them outwardy-against the spring load. It will'be seen, therefore, that the function of the springs 36 is to thrust the rollers together hard against the separating means and so to speak, follow up the displacement on the one hand, while on the other hand enabling the rolls automatically to be moved outward under the thrust of the wedging means.

Any roll, such asthe initial-roller 40 of the refiner, which is out of the vertical plane of the main series of rolls may be provided with adjustment means ll independently with respect to the roller ID with which it co-operates.

According to the above arrangement assuming it is desired, for example, to adjust the clearance or nip between the first and second rolls [0 and H of vertical series of rolls, the hand wheel of the appropriate toggles is rotated to retract or thrust in the block 2| according to whether it is desired to increase or decrease the roll clearance. If the clearance be increased then the second roller H and those above it, 12 and I3, are raised in accordance with the amount of adjustment effected, but as the rolls l2 and I3 above are moved as a unit, the adjustment produces no alteration of the clearances between H and I2 and between l2 and I3. If the block 2! is adjusted to decrease the clearance then the second roller and those above it will be lowered as a unit a corresponding extent. Similarly, the clearance between any pair of rolls of the series may be adjusted.

The bearing housings M to I! for the vertical series of rolls are carried by levers 42 which are pivoted in the framework at 43. Levers 42 and pivots 43 take the working thrusts exerted horizontally by the rolls, avoiding the necessity for heavy front and rear guideways for the housings.

An ordinary bearing for the roller mounting, such as vertical guides, is ineffectual, because from a practical point of view it is impossible to construct blocks sliding in vertical guides without back lash or rocking play. Applicants have adopted the pivoted arm arrangement in order to remove from the construction the possibility of error in this respect. Obviously, it would be futile to devise an adjustment means adapted to secure the very high degree of accuracy required in chocolate refining rolls if the bearings themselves had clearances such as would enable rocking or other error to occur.

We employ pivoted arms combined with the wedge adjustment means and thereby secure a new technical effect in this class of machines. It is the wedge means with superabundant loading coupled withthe pivoted arms that secures definite location of the axis of the rolls in all directions and enables them to perform with the extreme accuracy required.

Conveniently the levers 42 and the toggles and their adjusting means are located in compartments formed by parallel walls 44 in which the guide ways 3 are provided.

In order to close the spaces in the guide ways between the housings, the latter are provided with plate elements 45 which engage rebates 46 in the edges of the guide ways. Adjacent edges of the plate are formed with overlapping parts 47.

The plates 45 of the lowest housings l4 engage a horizontal surface 48 which support the housing in a definite position so that the housing l4 acts as an abutment to take the thrust of the toggles or wedge means. The levers 42, guideways i8, siidable plates 44 and their overlapping parts 41 provide a mechanism in which the parts, with the exception of the rolls, are totally enclosed, so that oil and grease does not get splashed about and onto the rolls, which is very desirable in chocolate refiners.

According to a modified arrangement, the adjustments between a pair of rolls may be effected by simple wedge means located between the roll trunnion housings. Referring to Figure 4, the adjusting spindle 22 is formed with a Wedge or thrust-producing tapered end 50 which is located between thrust-transmitting ball or roller race elements mounted upon the housings. The ball race elements may comprise rings 5| mounted upon lugs 52 extending vertically from the housings, the rings being arranged to move with slight rotational movement about axes parallel to the axes of the rolls H and [2.

It will be appreciated that axial movement of the spindle 22 will cause inward or outward movement of the wedge 58 with consequent separation or closing of the rolls II and I2.

As an alternative to the antifriction devices 5!, the housings I5 and 16 may be provided with inclined faces or roller races with which the wedge 50 is adapted to co-operate to cause the adjustment of the nip between the rolls.

Instead of providing the feeding roll with an independent adjusting device, this roll may be fixed and provide the abutment, in which case, the roll [0 may be adjustable as to height by toggle means between the housing of such roll and a suitable part of the framework.

Having now described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a roll refiner for chocolate and the like having rolls and bearing housings and a framing including parallel upright walls spaced apart equal to the axial length of said. housings, vertical guideways on said walls; said bearing housings being vertically movable, a lever integral with each housing and projecting therefrom substantially horizontally, the end of said lever remote from the housing being pivotally secured to the framing; and vertically movable plates associated with the housings, the edges of said plates being received in rebates formed in said guideways,

the adjacent horizontal edges of successive plates being formed with overlapping parts.

2. In a roll refiner including several rolls in vertical alignment, trunnion bearings, and adjustable wedge means therefor, said means comprising roller race elements located in the spaces between the housings, and wedges located between and in engagement with each of said race elements, said wedges being adjustable in a direction transverse to the plane of the axes of the rolls.

ALLAN ASHMEAD TUNLEY. JOHN CURRIE PATERSON. 

